Colorado's Front Range Heavyweights Keep Pace With Upgrades
Folks who head up I-70 from the Denver area this winter know that they are entering one of the most renowned and diverse skiing and riding regions in the nation.
Each year, five famous resorts compete not only to be the first to open but also to be first on the list of where Coloradans and visitors go. This season is no different, with new lifts, terrain and facilities going in this summer.
At Loveland, the boundaries of snowcat tours have been expanded into previously hike-to terrain. The pay-to-ride, guided full-day tours into 580-acre Dry Gulch, located in the upper northwest corner of the Colorado mountain boundaries and north of Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70, supplement Loveland's existing free snowcat service in the same area at the top of Lift 9.
Running from the top of Lift 8, 16-person snowcats with a backcountry guide will make up to two trips a day into the area. Skiers and riders can expect 5-7 runs off the ridgeline of Mt. Trelease into the gulch each trip. Backcountry hikers can still get in there on their own.
Arapahoe Basin has paused after a busy couple of offseasons putting in new lifts and high-alpine restaurant. What's new at A-Basin is in the future: Expanded parking, a lot-to-base gondola, and a remastered Wrangler beginner area on east edge of the mountain.
Over at Copper Mountain, crews cut new beginner and glade runs in the Western Territory as part of Copper's multi-year effort to open up easy terrain to skier's far left. They also opened up a couple of new traverses in that same sector, hoping to make it easier to get around the mountain. And the Aerie eatery opens at the top of the American Flyer.
Keystone finally got its Bergman Bowl project completed, after several fits and starts. A new high-speed six-pack rises 1,078 vertical feet out of the gully below North Peak to 12,282 feet elevation in the snowfields of Bergman Bowl. Unusual is that the new above-treeline terrain is mellow, all blue and greens. Steeps can be had off the lift in Erikson Bowl, or by hiking the ridge.
And at Breckenridge, fixed-grip double Lift 5 came down this summer, after more than 50 years of taking skiers and riders out of the Peak 8 base area. In its place with a new six-seat detachable chair called 5 Superchair -- another step in a Peak 8 makeover.
In the same area, a complete re-do of the Park Lane terrain park on lower Peak 8 is due to open. The park's features link into the banked slalom lower down, all off 5 Superchair.
